Trade Show Marketing: What’s Showing On Your Booth Monitor?

Today’s trade show booths are so much more than a couple tables, a stack of brochures, and some spiffy sales people. Modern trade show displays entice passersby into the booth; not necessarily to talk to someone, but to interact with a product or technology, view a video, or rest their feet at a comfortable charging station.

Whatever your goal, video content is almost always an integral part of your trade show marketing strategy, and what you show on your booth monitor can continue to be repurposed and impactful far beyond the show.

WHAT ARE YOU SHOWING ON YOUR MONITOR?

When you’re brainstorming the best video to play on loop at the show, you have several options to choose from:

• Product Demo – Whether professionally shot or animated, a video can help put a more technical or complex product in context by showing real life examples of its use.
• Virtual Office Tour – If you have a lot of customer traffic in your office – and you’ve put significant effort into creating an impressive space – a virtual office space might entice more local visitors when you get home.
• Product Life Cycle – It’s always interesting to see how new products come to fruition. From R&D and beta testing to manufacturing and logistics, marketing and advertising, and finally to the sales process that gets the product into your customers’ hands.
• 3D Animation Videos – Impressive 3D animated videos showcase your product from every angle, using fluid motion and dynamic graphics to highlight your product’s key features and benefits.

A few things to keep in mind when selecting and developing video content:

• Trade shows are loud. Unless you have a large booth with the monitor somewhat insulated toward the middle, visitors may not be able to hear it.
• Make captions large and easy to read. This is where animated videos really come in handy, as they can highlight features using short phrases and bullet points, versus trying to read full conversations of people speaking very quickly in an interview.
• Choose colors carefully. With an animated video, you can choose a color scheme that complements, not clashes, with your trade show display.
• Hire a professional. Even if you’re going the virtual office tour route, a professional video production firm that specializes in trade show videos can help you make a piece that stands out.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES’

The marketing world and consumer electronics are converging today like they’ve never converged before. Marketers are leveraging all the latest gadgets in order to lure people in. The use of video walls, projection mapping, and virtual reality, while being significantly more expensive than a traditional monitor, can be the difference maker in capturing the visitor’s attention. The aforementioned virtual tour can now be filmed in 360 degrees and showcased in virtual reality. The experience is truly immersive like you are actually there, and you can add narration with earphones for the captive visitor. Additionally, you can also consider interactive touch screens, augmented reality, holographic and / or 3d tv without the use of glasses. People love things out of the ordinary and love to experience information versus it being fed to them.

REPURPOSING YOUR VIDEO CONTENT

If you invest in professional video content for your trade show monitor, why not repurpose it after the show?

First, ask your creative firm to break the video into shorter segments. Think ahead about how you will share them and try to create a theme. For example, if you sell a software product, highlight a different feature each week using the corresponding short video segment combined with some more in-depth written content. If you did a virtual office tour, start at the front entrance the first week, move to the reception area, then the onsite restaurant, state-of-the-art meeting spaces, etc.

When it comes to sharing, you should use the strategy that works best for you and that your clients are the most receptive to. For many companies, a video is a natural addition to their social strategy and is easily shared via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. If you have a customer base that responds better to email, you can always upload the videos to your YouTube channel and share the link in your email campaigns.

A video can be a great addition to your trade show display when done right. To get the biggest bang for your buck, work with a creative firm that can develop a professional video, then repurpose and share it after the show to gain additional exposure.

By: Doug Noftall – November 9, 2016